McCreery tosses no-hitter at Yale

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The Giordano Brothers have been selling headstones across Derby Avenue from old Yale Field since 1921. And, after dropping a pair of games at Brown on Saturday, the Penn baseball team needed to make something happen yesterday to keep its Ivy League title hopes from going six feet under. Andrew McCreery made something happen. The sophomore tossed a no-hitter in the first game of a twin bill with the Elis (6-14, 2-6 Ivy). He also stroked an RBI triple and scored two runs in the 10-0 win for Penn (15-9, 3-5). "We didn't come close to a hit," said Yale coach John Stuper, a former major league pitcher. "Not even close." McCreery struck out five Elis over the course of his seven-inning gem. The only batter standing between him and perfection was Yale DH Dave Fortenbaugh, who drew walks in the fourth and seventh innings. The rest of Yale's lineup managed to hit only three balls out of the infield. "I knew I had it in the fifth inning," McCreery said. "I knew I could get it. The changeup -- they couldn't hit it all day. The changeup was really moving today." McCreery used that changeup well against Yale first baseman Kyle Misenti, a left-handed batter. Misenti, one of the Elis' top hitters, lined softly to second base in the second, struck out in the fourth and bounced harmlessly back to McCreery to end the game. Yale's best chances to spoil Penn's first no-hitter since Sean McDonald's 1998 no-no came in the sixth inning. With one out, pinch-hitter Luis Costa hit a screaming line drive right at Penn third baseman Oliver Hahl. The junior at the hot corner knocked the ball down and threw across the diamond to nip Costa. The next batter, Chris Elkins, forced a nice play from Penn first baseman Ron Rolph. But Rolph had plenty of time to toss to McCreery covering at the base. Every Penn fielder was involved in a defensive play except for right fielder Chris May. Still, May was busy with his bat, hitting a two-run homer and driving in a total of four runs. Catcher Jeff Gregorio also went deep for the Quakers, tagging Yale starter Doug Feller with a two-run shot in Penn's four-run first inning. Gregorio had two more RBIs in the nightcap, a 16-2 Penn romp. Every Quakers starter joined in the 18-hit attack, and eight different members of the Red and Blue picked up an RBI. Rolph drove in four runs to pace Penn, which batted around in both the sixth and seventh innings. McCreery, playing center field in the second game, notched three hits, as did senior Randy Ferrell. Two of Ferrell's hits were triples, including a run-scoring drive in the second inning. Penn's offensive explosion all but overshadowed another stellar pitching performance, this one by Dan Fitzgerald, who allowed only four hits for his first career complete game victory. "You can see that when we come to play, nobody's going to beat us," Ferrell said. "Everybody on the team believes that, and I think we're going to just go forward from that. You learn from the losses and forget about them." This weekend, Penn suffered two such losses to forget about. In Saturday's opener at Brown, Mike Mattern pitched well, but lost a 2-1 duel with the Bears' Jonathan Stern. Then, Ben Krantz lost a blowout, surrendering 10 runs in three and a third innings of a 16-0 defeat that set up yesterday's crucial games. But Penn won those games and heads into intra-divisional play with a 3-5 Ivy record and some hope. "We're not by any means dead," Penn coach Bob Seddon said. "Losing two games hurt, but some other teams are going to lose two games. There's no dominant team."

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